Four-and-a-half seconds can be an eternity in March basketball time. So when second-seeded Northwestern’s leading scorer, guard Boo Buie, stepped to the free-throw line Friday night with the Wildcats trailing Penn State by three points in a Big Ten Tournament quarter-final at the United Center, coach Chris Collins’ plan wasn’t for Buie to intentionally miss his second shot.
“I felt like if we could get it to one [point] and then they missed another free throw, we would have [nearly] five full seconds to get a shot,” Collins said.
Buie missed the second free throw, and Ty Berry kicked the rebound out to the Chase Audige, NU’s second-leading scorer, for a three-point attempt at the buzzer. It spun off the rim as time expired.
It was the teams’ second game decided in overtime in nine days, with the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions prevailing 67-65 to advance to the semifinals Saturday.
“Fitting way for that game to end,” Collins said. “Neither team shot the ball well tonight.”
By the second TV timeout, there wasn’t much action. Fan participants in a shooting challenge quickly had better shooting percentages than both Penn State and NU, which led 26-25 at halftime. The slow start carried into the second half, with neither team truly finding an offensive rhythm until the final five minutes of regulation.
NU’s No. 2 seeding was a bit misleading, as it was one loss from being the ninth seed before a 65-53 win over Rutgers to end the regular season solidified its double-bye into the quarterfinals.
Northwestern was shooting 40.9% from the field this season but shot just 31.8% on Friday and went 6-for-24 from three-point range. Penn State shot 41.2% from the field and 35% from three-point range.
“I thought there were positives from the defensive end,” Collins said. “But we have to be better going into the NCAA Tournament. [Shooting] 31% is not going to cut it. Our four main scorers, [Buie, Audige, Berry] and Brooks [Barnhizer] shooting about 25% from the floor, you’re not going to beat NCAA-quality teams if we can’t get our guys going.”
Buie led NU with 16 points, and Barnhizer, by far the Wildcats’ best player on the floor Friday, had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. More than halfway through the second half, Audige had just two points. He finished with six points, four rebounds and two assists. Berry added five points, three rebounds and three assists.
The Wildcats’ offensive struggles weren’t due to any defensive scheme Penn State threw at them. Both teams flat-out missed good looks — although Penn State can blame some of their misery on NU’s defense. The Wildcats had eight steals and scored 23 points off 15 forced turnovers.
“Their defense is fantastic,” Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “We’ve struggled with that. We got it going a little bit better in the second half and made a couple of shots in overtime, but they really bottled us up for a long time.”
The senior guard trio of Seth Lundy, Jalen Pickett and Andrew Funk led the way for Penn State. Lundy finished with a team-high 16 points, Pickett had 15 and Funk 14.
The Wildcats’ abrupt exit isn’t the end of the road in March. After going 21-10, they’ve solidified their place in the NCAA Tournament field and will find out Sunday where they’re headed. They just need to figure out what kind of team they’ll show up as.
“Our season isn’t done yet,” Buie said. “We’re playing in the tournament and have a chance to win some games. That right there is motivating alone.”
